The Logical Thing To Do
by thefourteenthdarkone
Summary: We don't notice much, but Jellal certainly influenced a lot of events in the Grand Magic Games Arc. What would have happened if Crime Sorciere had done "the logical thing(in my mind)", and sent Meredy to be a part of Team B instead of Jellal? Through the fight with Jura, dealings with the Council, and the Kagura Incident, it'd probably be a whole lot less sane, that's for sure.
1. A Somewhat Expected Visitor

**This story was inspired by a tumblr comic, with Mystogan walking into Fairy Tail Team B's headquarters and surprise, Meredy's inside! So I though: What if Crime Sorciere had done(in my mind)the logical thing, and sent Meredy instead? It started out as a one-shot, but eventually became a full-fledged story. This mostly stems from my desire to have Meredy fight people, and that's half the reason this fanfiction was written, so if I change some things so she can participate more, that's why. Do note that this is my first attempt at a story with an actual plot, so if you have constructive criticism I'm open.  
**

**Thank you, Dragon'sHost, for looking this over! You should read her stories. they're hilarious, especially if you're an avid crack-shipper(like yours truly.)**

Fairy Tail Team B relaxed in their hotel room, waiting.

Well, "relaxed" wouldn't be the right word. Tension and anticipation were thick. Not only was the mysterious midnight deadline growing closer and closer, but it was 11:37, the sixth member of their team hadn't shown up yet, and no one wanted to drag a very drunk Cana to whatever was happening at said time. Being that he and his comrades were required to stay some distance from the city(just in case the Council came by), they expected him to be somewhat late, but this was cutting it very, very close.

Juvia was on her claimed cot, holding a Grey plushie and muttering something, probably more protests about her and Grey being on Team B and Team A, respectively. As we mentioned before, Cana was on the ground, passed out. Gajeel(who had Pantherlily on his shoulder) and Laxus were brooding on opposite sides of the small brick room, and Mirajane, the only one who didn't look a bit stressed, was lying on the floor also muttering to herself. Judging from what she had said earlier, it was obvious Happy(who had a guild-wide reputation as a little snitch) had told her Erza and the man who had yet to show up had some kind of thing going on. The Take-Over mage had instantly begun devising matchmaking schemes, over Laxus's protests that it was probably against her best interests to get involved in Titania's love life. God knows that's somewhere you probably don't want to go.

Juvia glanced up to look at the clock. 11:45. She looked around at her teammates, who were all lost in their own little worlds, and began to say, "Juvia thinks maybe we should..." There was a pair of green eyes at the window, peering in inquisitively. Juvia knew those eyes!

Her assumption was confirmed when the window, upon the eyes spotting Juvia, was thrust open and a pink-haired girl in a black minidress shot into the room.

Literally. She crashed into Laxus.

This definitely snapped everyone out of their stupor, considering he electrocuted the entire room. Cana woke up with a loud shriek.

While Mirajane rushed over to the irritated Dragonslayer, Juvia ran over to the pink-haired girl, who had gotten up and was brushing herself off. She seemed to realize that her entrance had resulted in an injury. Several, really. "Wow. Graceful much, Meredy?" she muttered to herself, before turning to Laxus. "Sorry! I just saw Juvia and got really, really, excited cause no one told me I was going to get to be on a team with her and so I wasn't paying attention and.." She stopped abruptly as Laxus got up and put a hand out.

"Wait. Who are you?" She looked surprised, and then realization seemed to hit her. "Oh, right! Only Juvia knows me! I'm Meredy, Jellal's guildmate in Crime Sorciere!"

Gajeel asked the logical question.

"Well, where is he?" Meredy grinned at him, not something people usually did the first time they saw Gajeel. "Not here, obviously!"

Gajeel groaned and Meredy snickered. "See, I pointed out that disguises could always come off, and then Jellal's cover would be blown, not to mention the fact that his(and Ultear's) magics are super-recognizable. And if that didn't happen, he'd do something stupid to impress Erza and that would be the end of us. Both agreed, one more reluctantly then the other. "

Mirajane's eyes widened to ridiculous lengths at that. Lily, however, was nodding a little. "Makes sense. We did have that infiltrator from the Council. He probably found out what happened to Mystogan."

Laxus finished the thought. "So you're here instead. Well, as long as you stop knocking me over, we should be fine. Don't hug me," he added, seeing Meredy's joyful expression at her apparent acceptance from what seemed to be the leader of this particular team. "And if you're friends with the Rain Woman, try and get her to shut up about the stripper. Gajeel does a terrible job."

Neither Gajeel or Juvia had time to retort, as that's when a giant pumpkin-man appeared in the sky, drawing all six of their attention.

"What is it?" came the first coherent thing out of Cana's mouth in over two hours. No one was able to respond, too busy paying attention to what it was saying.

"An elimination round?" Mirajane asked no one in particular, seeing the magic pathway begin to lay itself from their window to the circular pointy thing floating in the sky. "If we fall out of the labyrinth or get there after eight teams already have, we don't get to go on to the actual games!"

"That's a pain." Gajeel announced, watching as the pathway completed itself. "Let's get a move on, then. We've got an assignment to win, after all, eh?"

"Right!" was the collective consensus, as the five team member headed off up the pathway. Meredy grinned as she ran up the stones next to Juvia, who looked quite happy that she got to spend more time with her pink-haired friend. The Magic Council had no idea what she looked like(having not seen her for seven years) or what her magic was. Since she was hanging out with Fairy Tail for the duration of the games, there wasn't any need to wear a disguise. Jellal the Paranoid had attempted to insist she at least wear her cloak, but luckily, Ultear was there to argue with him as Meredy escaped. He would be going on about their conspiracy against him all night. Meredy suspected he was just trying to pretend he wasn't annoyed at not getting to spend time with Erza.

Now, all she had to do was think of a psuedonym...

And so they ran, with Laxus's parting call of, "Hey, Lily, make sure Cana doesn't get drunk again, alright?"

The Exceed did not look happy with that task. Understandable, considering that Cana had already grabbed another bottle of ale while waving a cheerful goodbye to the rest of her team.

**Next Chapter: Sky Labyrinth: Team B Style! **

**I'm sure you see this all over the place, but reviews are very inspiring to us authors. It only takes a second to leave a sentence or two, so please, leave a review! And, if it fits your fancy, leave a suggestion for what Meredy's alias should be during the Games! I need a first and last name, and I'll be choosing one from the suggestions! Thanks!**


	2. Sky Labyrinth- Team B Style!

**And here's the second chapter of The Logical Thing To Do! I'm trying to accurately make up things for Team B to do in the Sky Labyrinth, so please bear with me here. My update schedule for this story should be about a week or so between each chapter. However, if I'm inspired, they may come earlier. There's also no guarantees on the length, but I'll try and make it long.**

**Thank you to Dragon'sHost and Guest for coming up with Meredy's alias!**

_If this isn't a confuzzling labyrinth, I don't know what is_. Confuzzling. Meredy loved that word, and yet whenever she used it, Ultear and Jellal looked at her funny. Then again, they tended to look at her funny a lot. Especially that one time when she spent a week seeing what being emo was like.

I mean, they had only been in there for ten minutes or so(no one had a watch), and already Gajeel and Laxus were both swearing violently, and taking their anger out on any other teams unlucky enough to cross their paths. This was actually good for their team, as they soon discovered that the other teams were making maps of the labyrinth, and it was Mirajane's idea to collect them. Unfortunately, no one on their team was good at reading maps, so they were stuck with several pieces of paper that, without analysis, were useless.

So far, they had been through all sorts of criss-crossing trials. Doorways that led to nowhere were a common occurrence, along with never-ending staircases and huge gaps between surfaces.. The fact that the magically floating platforms were getting narrower and narrower didn't help.

However, Meredy personally was enjoying herself. It was nice to fight someone for once without your freedom on the line and the other side actively trying to kill you. While she watched Juvia once again spread the maps on the ground, she reflected on her outfit. While she was dashing to Fairy Tail apartment, Jellal had come over telepathy and reminded her that Makarov wanted team colors, and the B team had been assigned black. So Meredy had taken a quick detour to an out-of-the-way boutique, and managed to pick up this lovely black with a white bow version of her usual outfit. It had come with black ankle-boots, which the pink-haired mage had also picked up. They went perfectly with her earmuffs, too.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when that really demented statue's(seriously, what was that _modeled_ after?) eyes glowed red, and sent their team flying.

Mirajane had went into Satan Soul and started flying, grabbing Gajeel and Laxus in the process. Meredy had advanced acrobatics training, so it was relatively easy for her to hang on. But Juvia, focused on the maps, hadn't had time to grab anything, and now she was falling, screaming her head off.

"JUVIA! TURN ON WATER BODY!"

Thank whatever god was up there that Meredy had made Jellal teach her water magic, Juvia had enough mind left to listen, and she was a water mage. Using the limited control she could muster, Meredy grabbed hold of the water now making up Juvia, and managed to keep her stationary long enough for Mirajane to deposit the two Dragonslayers next to Meredy and fly down to snatch her. The five relaxed on the now-unmoving platform, breathing heavily. Finally, Gajeel turned to Meredy with grudging respect. "Nice save there, Pinky." Meredy decided not to question his choice of nickname. "Where'd you learn water magic?"

"Jellal taught it to me! He and Ultear know all sorts of weird magic, and I wanted to learn some. I know some transformation magic, too."

Mirajane suddenly looked interested. "Transformation magic? That gives me an idea!"

A few minutes later, Meredy had managed to produce a black Fairy Tail mark on her shoulder, copied from Gajeel. "There! As long as you're careful not to run out of magic power, no one will ever question whether you're a member of Fairy Tail or not!"

It was a pretty good idea, actually. Because of Meredy's limited clothing, there weren't a lot of places her guildmark could be hidden. Now, though, there was no apparent question of whether she was a member or not.

"Now that we've got our bearings, shall we continue?" The only question was, where to continue to? It was difficult to pinpoint where the goal could be, considering that none of them had a compass. That is, until Meredy spotted a team of mages, one of whom was holding a compass and were directly above them. Quietly, she formed a sensory link with the one holding the compass and hit herself in the arm(as the rest of her team looked on curiously) Hearing the shriek of pain from above, she calmly held out her hand and let the compass drop right into it. Her team silently snickered as they raced off, following east and leaving behind the panicked other team, who had no idea what just happened.

"Is that part of your magic, Meredy?" Mirajane, who had been entrusted with the compass, asked.

"It's called Maguilty Sodom. I can make nerve-targeting blades, too, as well as damaging rays. But that's it, which is why I'm trying to- _eeeeeeeeeee_!" The shriek was due to the part of the platform Meredy was standing on giving way. Looking down, you could see a group of mages standing a little ways off, laughing. One was holding a gun(he must use gun magic.)

"Those guys are from Twilight Ogre." Gajeel growled, as Mirajane picked up Meredy. It was a excellent thing she had Satan Soul.

The five mages smirked, as Meredy quietly asked Mirajane, "What's Twilight Ogre?" Mirajane didn't look happy either. "They oppressed our guild while we were gone on Tenrou. Not nice guys. We beat them up, but they seem set on revenge." Meredy nodded.

"So that's why Laxus just electrocuted them off the platform." The two watched as all five mages went flying, screaming like little girls.

"That's about right!"

A few minutes later, the corridor they were running on stopped abruptly, ending with a doorway. Due to their previous experiences with doorways, Juvia very, very gingerly opened it. Luckily, it was not just open air, and led to a checkered pathway.

"Do you guys think we should go this way?" Meredy asked, attempting to peer down the pathway. It didn't look like it had an end.

"The compass and the maps all seem to say that this is the right way to go, so that would probably be the correct course." Mirajane assured the rest of her team, after checking the compass. It did indeed point to east. However, this plan was skewered when the statue glowed once again, sending them flying to the other side. Gajeel and Laxus began violently swearing again.

"How are we going to get back over?" Juvia inquired. She couldn't even see the pathway they were going to take before the labyrinth started turning. "Well, I've still got the compass," Mirajane pointed out. "So if we keep going east, we should come upon it again eventually!"

So they continued. There weren't many teams left, and Fairy Tail Team B did their best to eliminate as many remaining ones as possible.

"Water Nebula!" "Maguilty Ray!" A combined attack from Juvia and Meredy ruined a red-shirted guild's chances at winning. While the two were occupied, another team attempted to send several blasts of fire directly at their backs and knock them off the platform. Unfortunately, they chose to use fire attacks, resulting in swift and brutal retaliation from the water mage. "Water Slicer!"

There went two, and another vanished when they tried to take Gajeel head-on. He reflexively ducked, and all they got was a well-aimed Iron Dragon's Roar for their trouble. "Gihi."

Countless electrocutions, blades, water bombs, and various other attacks later, the five of them had found their way back to the checkered hallway. It didn't take long to find their way through it, and then it was just a matter of blowing a hole in the wall's weak spot, a task Mirajane was all too happy to complete. "Demon Blast!"

They emerged into what looked like a beautiful field, with a lovely sky and a whole landscape.

"How did they fit this thing into the labyrinth?" Juvia wondered. It only took Meredy a couple seconds of observation to answer. "Look at the walls. See there?" she said, taking her friend's hand and pointing with it. "The walls have holes in them. It's painted."

"Which means we must be close to the exit!" Mirajane said excitedly, beginning to examine the compass. Meredy had already decided to like Mirajane. Not only did she obviously ship Jellal and Erza and probably a bunch of other things, but she was really nice and enthusiastic. Besides, that deep voice her Satan Soul gave her was awesome. "Well, what are we waiting for?"

Gajeel looked over at Mirajane. "Well, which way?" Her excited look had changed to a distressed one. "It's not working! This part must not allow you to use a compass! Oh no, what are we going to do!?"

"Well, at least that very convenient stone path is there to lead us to the exit, you know?" Laxus told them, casually waving an arm in its direction. "So you can stop freaking out, Mira, okay?" She jumped up from where she had been despairing on the floor, her countenance regaining its usual cheerful expression . "Okay! Thanks, Laxus!"

Privately, Meredy added them to her list of ships.

"I hate to ruin the moment," (Laxus glared at her), "but how do we get up there?"

As if to answer her question, the labyrinth flipped once more, sending them plummeting up towards Laxus's path. A few more minutes of dashing about and…

"There! Look!"

…..there was a brightly colored sign, informing them that, yes indeed, that was the goal. The weird pumpkin guy from earlier was also there, in a much smaller form, however. One last stretch of stone up the stairs, and they were officially at the goal!

"Laxus Dreyar! Mirajane Strauss! Juvia Lockser! Gajeel Redfox! And….Mystogan?" he paused for a second, looking at Meredy. She didn't really seem to fit the name….

Meredy panicked for a split second, before regaining her composure and smiling brightly at the pumpkin man. "Yeah, he was going to be on the team, but we were forced to change at the last minute! So the fifth member of this team is Suzaline Milkovich!"

Wow, that was a good name on the spot. No one knew Ultear's last name besides Grey, and she doubted he'd question her. Although, Ur's other pupil, Lyon, might ask questions…..it would be an interesting talk if she was forced to explain things to him, that's for sure. Ah well, Meredy would cross that bridge when she came to it. That's what she always did, after all. Turning her attention back to the pumpkin man, she heard him say, "Congratulations! You have passed the Sky Labyrinth, and in second, too! Excellent job!"

And with that, he opened the door, and let them into a long, stone corridor.

And so ended the first part of the Grand Magic Games, for Team B, at least. As we know, it would be five more teams before the other half of Fairy Tail came running up to the goal to learn they had barely passed the elimination round.

As they walked down the corridor, all suddenly conscious of how tired they were, Meredy thought, _I have to remember why I'm here, to keep a sharp lookout for that strange magic power. But…..I have to help Fairy Tail win in the process, too!_

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_THE NEXT MORNING, IN THE ARENA_

"Alright, it's that time of year! The time of the amazing annual competition, the Grand Magic Games! Everyone's getting revved up!"

From inside their preparation room, Fairy Tail Team B waited in silence and anticipation. As they had come in second, they had the honor of going into the arena second-to-last. They were assuming Sabertooth was first. It was Meredy who spoke up first.

"Does A Team have any idea we exist?" Laxus answered. "Nope. They won't know until we walk out there. It was sort of a last minute thing Gramps decided, after they had already left."

Meredy fell silent again. She wondered what Grey's reaction was going to be to her being out there. Looking at her shoulder, she made sure that her black "guildmark" was there. As the Council would probably be observing the games, like Mirajane said in the labyrinth, they didn't want to take any chances. While it was doubtful that Meredy's criminal status would be recognized, Team B could get disqualified if someone discovered Meredy wasn't actually a member of Fairy Tail. And then they'd apparently have to play the punishment game. The pink-haired mage wasn't sure what that was, but she had no intentions of finding out.

That's when she was once again jolted out of her thoughts. She needed to think in quieter places. But she got up when Laxus gestured for her too. He had apparently decided to adopt Gajeel's nickname for her. "C'mon, Pinky, Time for us to go out there."

"And win these games!" Juvia added determinedly. And with that…

"And as for the team that came in second...oh, here's a shocker! Coming in second place, Fairy Tail B Team!"

They could see the shock on the faces of the other six guilds already gathered, especially their own. Natsu, in particular, looked a cross between stunned and outraged. While attempting to look badass on the outside, Meredy smiled internally. No surprise there.

She could also see the very confused expressions that passed over everyone's faces, and Grey began to say, "Meredy…." Before he could say anything else, she cut him off. "It's Suzaline, you moron! We discussed this!" He and the rest of must have seen the I'll-explain-later expression, for they shut up.

Looking up, you could see Master Makarov laughing his head off at the crowd's confusion. The rest of the teams seemed quite convinced this was thoroughly unfair.

"How come Fairy Tail gets two teams?" questioned several members of Lamia Scale. Meredy would have had several biting retorts, but unfortunately, Natsu interrupted her with his speech about no matter that they were in the same guild, now the two teams were rivals! Meredy tuned him out in favor of listening to the announcers.

"So it is in the rulebook that a guild can have two teams for the competition! The question is, will two members of the same guild be able to fight each other? What do you think, Yajima-san?"

"I envy their youth!"

"That's not...quite what I meant…"Chapati said quietly, while the audience laughed. Jenny answered. "Well, knowing Fairy Tail, I'm sure they'll have no problem with it!"

Meanwhile, on the arena floor, the Trimens had decided this mysterious pink-haired Fairy Tail member warranted their full attention.

"Your eyes simply speak to me, Miss Suzaline! And your name perfectly fits those eyes, as they are like a light to my soul!" That was Hibiki. Eve used his usual line. "Would you like a little brother?" Ichiya tried to sniff her, which made her jump nearly twelve feet in the air, and then promptly hide behind Mirajane, who laughed and then threatened to Satan Soul Ichiya if he kept traumatizing Meredy. So poor Erza was the next target. And as for the Trimens, Mermaid Heel provided an endless stream of women to hit on.

Grey managed to avoid Juvia long enough(mostly because of Lyon) to question Meredy.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?!"

Meredy decided to tease him. "Why, planning your and Juvia's wedding, of course!"

Grey scowled at her and blushed faintly, making her grin even wider. "Very funny. Seriously, though. Why are you pretending to be part of Fairy Tail?"

She took on a more serious tone. "We decided it would be good to be nearer to the arena to investigate, and Makarov agreed, so originally," and he she dropped her voice significantly, "Jellal was going to pretend to be Mystogan. We decided at the last minute that sending me would be a much wiser option, and carry a far lesser chance of arrests." Grey pointed to the Fairy Tail mark. "Limited transformation magic." He nodded, satisfied. "Though you're going to have some explaining to do to Master. He's scrutinizing you." She looked up. Indeed, the guild master was frowning at her. He knew that she was also part of Crime Sorciere, but she still was obligated to explain the change of plans. After the day was over, at least. And she saw Levy in the stands with Jet and Droy, seemingly explaining some things to the rest of the guild, probably about Meredy herself.

But right now, in Meredy's immediate vicinity? It was time to find out just who their main rivals were.

Sabertooth.

"And here comes the reigning champions, the perpetually recognized strongest guild in Fiore, in their usual niche of first place! May I present…...SABERTOOTH!"

Meredy nearly had to cover her ears, the cheering was so loud. She wasn't used to such sounds, spending most of her time away from cities and in the company of just two people, neither of whom talked very much.

Even so, it was clear that Sabertooth had a lot of popular support. _This is how Fairy Tail would have entered this arena, seven years ago_….. Meredy felt a pang of remorse. She still couldn't get over that it had been partly her fault, what happened to the Tenrou team. If Grimoire Heart hadn't held up their trial, would Fairy Tail have escaped in time, or at least have had enough magic power to hold off Acnologia long enough to get away? And yet, they were the ones that suffered, not much of Grimoire Heart….

Oh lord. She was starting to sound like Jellal._ Focus, Meredy, focus! Or, Suzaline, if we're going with that…._

The blonde-haired Sabertooth mage looked over to Natsu and said something, which only made Natsu's scowl deeper. And while his caped partner didn't say anything, it was obvious he was staring at Gajeel. The Maguilty Sense mage wondered what their deals were. It was pretty clear that Natsu, at least, didn't like either of them. Gajeel, however, didn't seem to care. Then again, Gajeel never seemed to care.

Taking a closer look at the other three members of Sabertooth's team, she noted that the girl with the silver hair looked distinctly less enthusiastic than her compatriots. She also noted the blonde Freed clone's hat. Now _that_ was style. She might actually be forced to ask him where he got it. It would go wonderfully with her usual outfit.

Chapati was talking again. "Listen to those cheers! Now that all the teams are on the field, let's see the schedule!"

As the arena watched, a stone tablet rose out from the ground, with writing on it.

"So there's an event and battles every day, with the last battle being tag battles." she heard Lucy say, while everyone examined the tablet. "And the first event is called Hidden. Will we be looking for something?"

As if to answer her question, the pumpkin man, whose name was apparently Mato, walked up to them. "Every team must choose one member to participate in the event, and the rules will be revealed once each team has chosen their participant!"

Sabertooth selected Rufus Lore almost immediately, while Quatro Cerberus sent in Jäeger. Beth Vanderwood was granted being the representative for Blue Pegasus, and Raven Tail sent in Nulpudding.

As soon as Lyon went in, Grey was on it. And if Grey was in, so was Juvia. After Gajeel shrieked at her about how she better not lose on purpose or she was answering to him.

Meredy was quite certain that Juvia was too busy fangirling to listen.

As Mato went over the rules, Meredy decided she might as well find out what the deal was with Raven Tail.

Meredy was extremely suspicious of Raven Tail. Besides the fact that she had seen Fairy Tail glaring at them in utter disgust, Crime Sorciere was the guild that tracked down dark guilds. And Raven Tail had been a Dark Guild. Crime Sorciere had never gone after them, seeing as they were relatively harmless. But a former dark guild entering the Grand Magic Games the same year the guild they seem to have a thing against and a connection with returns? That was noteworthy behavior.

"They're my dad's guild," Laxus told her resentfully, when she asked him. "They were a dark guild until a little while ago, but I'm sure you already know that." at her nod, he continued, "I have no idea why they decided to enter(Gramps seems to, but he won't tell me anything), but I'm sure it's because we're in it. And they're probably going to make life very difficult. Considering you're posing as one of us, watch your back, okay?"

She nodded in agreement. She'd tell Ultear and Jellal to watch them too, when she met up with them. There was some shady stuff going on. Speaking of shady, she didn't like that pumpkin. Or the rabbit on the Blue Pegasus Team. Or really, the Blue Pegasus team in general. _Man_, were they creepy. If they tried that again, she was giving Mira free reign. It seemed that her initial liking of the Take-Over Mage had been a good instinct.

Did they just make a city rise from the ground? That was some powerful magic. This game had some serious investors, didn't it? The kingdom funded it if she remembered correctly. This was going to be very intriguing. She had never actually been to the Grand Magic Games before, just looked for the strange power they felt every year.

Well, now she was getting a first-hand look, as one of the participants.

And so here went nothing,

"First event begin- Hidden, start!"

**Next Chapter: And We Were Right About Ravens**

**Well, that was longer than last chapter, so here you go, Kuro-tan! Next chapter'll have the Hidden event and the first three battles. Meredy's going to really hate Raven Tail by the time this is over…**

**If you liked the story, leave a review! Leave. A. Review. Even if you didn't like it, I appreciate constructive criticism! So review anyway! Exclamation points! See you next chapter!**


	3. And We Were Right About Ravens

**Sorry this one took so long, I had to really rewatch the episodes to get it right. Thank you to the people who have followed, favorited, and especially reviewed this story, I hope I live up to your expectations!**

**I'll try to rewrite the events of this chapter from Meredy's perspective and do it right, but there's only so many times I can rewatch the GMG arc, so please forgive stuff I do wrong! That goes for the rest of the story as well. Anyway, this is getting long enough.**

**The part with Hidden is rather short. I hate watching that episode, mostly because I hate seeing Grey and Juvia destroyed like that. So I didn't write out most of it in detail.**

**On with the show!**

Meredy was outraged, on Grey's behalf. Maybe she could get Ultear to "accidentally" throw this purple guy off a cliff. Seriously, what was with him? Was he even human? And who names their kid 'Nullpudding'? If he wasn't the reason Grey had -2 points, she almost would have felt sorry for him.

It had started off well enough, except for the expected Juvia drama. Meredy loved the girl, she really did. But there were some levels of hyper-obsession that Meredy could not condone, no matter how much she shipped it. Then again, she'd probably end up protecting the Water Mage from Gajeel and Laxus's never-ending complaining that was going to go down after this.

Then, she had noticed a strange phenomenon, which the rest of Fairy Tail had also obviously noticed. The Raven Tail member was going only for Grey, and it was obvious Grey was at a huge disadvantage. Meredy and the rest of the crowd, unlike the raven-haired teenager, could see the movement of all the other players participating in "Hidden". And Nullpudding had been close enough to destroy several other players, several times. But every time, he always ignored them in favor of chasing Grey around.

The worst thing was, it wasn't cheating, it was simply targeting a certain player to ensure they couldn't win, or even get anywhere close to a decently respectable amount of points. Meredy, while hating herself for doing so, was glad that at least he was going for mostly Grey and not Juvia. At least her team wouldn't be dead last.

_Still,_ she thought sadly,_ Grey's going to beat himself up over this, and it won't even be his fault….Man, Ultear's going to be MAD when I go to report tonight, and Jellal's going to have to deal with her until then._

She winced. The blue-haired mage wasn't very good at dealing with Ultear on a regular basis. Contrary to what the Council seemed to think (probably from their former "partnership"), the two fought. A lot. Then again, that could also have something to do with the fact that they were the two adults in a group of three convicts. A.K.A., a free pass to the land of Being Overstressed. Meredy did her best to help, but unfortunately, moody teenagers are not that good at helping. Jellal dealing with a furious-at-the-world-in-general Ultear was going to be a **disaster**. She was going to have to think up some stories for falling meteors and mysteriously vanishing forests….

Gajeel flicking her in the head brought her back to reality once again. "Oi, Pinky, you there? You space out a lot, or hasn't anyone else noticed?"

She let out a tiny chuckle. "I am a bit spacy, you could say that…..Just thinking."

"About what? The contest?" Mirajane asked. "It's awful, isn't it? Not only did Juvia, well, um-"

"Be a lovesick idiot," Laxus supplied. Mirajane reluctantly nodded, "But Grey's Raven Tail's sole target, and they're not letting up at all."

"I have to wonder where the Sabertooth guy is, though," Meredy added, examining the lacrima screens. "With Sabertooth being the top guild and all you'd think he would be crushing some people out there." She was about to also ask where Cana was, but then thought for a second and logically concluded the brunette was at the bar. Apparently she didn't have to be here as long as she wasn't needed to fight.

The rest of her team nodded, as they watched Mermaid Heel's representative try and sneak attack Lyon, who easily dodged her carrot attack. That magic was some kind of interesting. What Meredy really wanted to know was whether you could eat the vegetables she created.

Maybe there was a candy variety out there. The Crime Sorciere member made a mental note to look into some magic books.

Suddenly, she heard Juvia mention a "punishment game" onscreen. Punishment game?

Grey looked distinctly outraged. From her teammates' snickering and his and the rest of A-Team's obvious confusion, it was evident that only B-Team had been informed of this punishment game. Meredy was with Grey here, as she hadn't known anything either. Wait, she wasn't going to have to do this too, right?

Mirajane seemed to read her thoughts, as usual. "Jellal, and especially you were sort of a last-minute introduction, so I don't think Master accounted for that. It was more just to get Gajeel, Laxus, and Juvia to participate."

More snickering was heard from Laxus's direction. "It worked, whatever he was trying. And I'd try your best, because knowing Gramps there's no guarantee he won't do his best to make you participate, too." Meredy wholeheartedly vowed to try her best. There was definitely a streak of evil in the Dreyar family. Then again, she doubted she was in much danger. If this "punishment game" hurt Meredy in any way, Ultear and probably Jellal too would revert back to evil mastermind mode.

"They're all almost on top of each other, and Raven Tail's still only going for Grey and Juvia, now, too. Except for the Sabert- oh, wait, there he is!" Mirajane was excitedly pointing to the way top of a building's spire, where a blonde haired man balanced, with a hand on his hat. He looked rather smug, and Meredy instantly knew something was off. He was incredibly exposed like that, away from all the clones, and it was obvious all the other mages there were also confused as to his position. Plus, that smirk of his was unnerving.

He said his next few words quietly enough, but Meredy heard the last part. "Memory-Make! Night of Falling Stars!"

_Memory_-Make? Meredy had extensively studied Lost Magic during her time in Grimoire Heart, and she was sure she'd heard that before. It looked like Lost Magic, too. The arena was immediately coated in darkness, causing a few seconds of panic, before Rufus unleashed his spell. Beams of golden light flew down from the sky at record speed, slamming everyone into the ground, right on target, and earning Sabertooth first place without any apparent effort at all.

No. Of course the _damned_ Raven was the one that escaped. Meredy almost felt bad for cheering when he was also effortlessly disposed of, with merely a twitch of the Sabertooth mage's hat. Meredy HAD to get herself one of those.

She wasn't cheering, however, when Grey tried the same thing and was taken out, again, in the same manner. If anything, Rufus looked even more smug at taking down a fellow Maker Magic mage.

Forget the hat, she wanted to get her hands on Rufus. He did do a good job. Maybe she'd high-five him.

In the face.

With a chair.

Made of steel.

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"IT'S KARMA TIME!" Meredy shrieked excitedly as she watched Lucy nominated to battle none other then Flare Corona, of the Raven Tail guild. Lucy was definitely strong, especially after Ul had unlocked her Second Origin. Mirajane looked amused at her happy little dance.

"You certainly want to see Raven Tail decimated as much as we do, Mer- I mean, Suzaline? I think I'm just going to call you Lina. Speaking of which, that's a very interesting name you chose."

"It was the name of this awesome war-lady queen I read about in a magic book. She used Erza's magic, uh...what's it called again? Oh right, Requip: The Knight. Anyway, she took over a bunch of countries and burned and exploded all sorts of stuff. I hadn't really thought about an alias before, so that was the first thing that popped into my head. As for the last name," she added, catching Mirajane's question before she asked it, "That's Ul's last name."

Gajeel raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Isn't it sort of risky to use same last name as your convict foster mother for your very public appearances?"

"Hey, I said I was pressed for time! And anyway, Milkovich is a super-common last name in the north, and like I said before, we don't even think the Council knows I exist. And they definitely don't know of my relationship to Ultear. I'm not a total idiot!"

"Partial, now, that could be argued."

"I'm going to tell Juvia you said that, Gajeel. And where is she, anyway? I need to inform her of all the painful ways I'm gonna destroy that purple mushroom."

Mirajane let out the slightest laugh at Nulpudding being referred to as a "purple mushroom". Laxus, however, looked serious. "She didn't come back here after leaving the arena….do you think she went after Grey?"

Meredy thought for a second, and then closed her eyes, concentrating. One feature of her magic was that she seemed to form semi-permanent links with those she was especially close too or had strong feelings of any kind for. She would form a Sensory Link once, but it was like the feelings lingered. Jellal, Ultear, Juvia, probably Grey from her years of revenge mantra...if she focused, she could sense their emotional states at will.

However, often, when one was feeling a particularly strong emotion, she would also involuntarily sense that without any effort on her part. It was excellent for teasing Jellal against Erza, or cheering Ultear up when she sunk into atonement-depression. But now, she felt this overwhelming sense of anger, coupled with self-doubt….definitely from Grey and Juvia, although Ultear and even possibly Jellal were helping with the sensation of furiousness.

She had no idea where Grey would be, but knowing Juvia she would probably be merged with some body of water. "I'll be back in a few minutes, tell me how it goes, okay?"

The rest of her team looked mildly confused, but apparently assuming she was going to go track down Juvia, they waved her on.

She walked down the hallway beneath Domus Flau, thinking. _Now, if I were a Juvia, where would I be?_ She definitely wasn't by Grey. Contrary to some people's belief, Juvia's every thought did not revolve around her Grey-sama. Knowing the blue-haired girl, Meredy was quite certain she would be somewhere, beating herself up over losing. It was currently Meredy's personal mission to put a stop to this.

She walked past the bar, noting a drunk Cana cheering at the bar's lacrima screens from on top of her pile of out drunk fellow mages. Meredy recognized a couple other Fairy Tail members too, though she didn't know most of their names. She was cheering pretty loud for….._Oh right! Lucy's fighting!_ Meredy mentally slapped herself. Peeking in the doorway for a second, she checked on the battle's status. Lucy was doing awesome! Especially because that red-haired girl was incredibly creepy. And coming from a girl who regularly battled Dark Guilds (who were the very definition of creepy), that was a strong statement.

She would have loved to watch more, but she still had a mission to carry out. She was, however, willing to pause for a second to grab a box of chocolates from the shop next to Cana's second home.

Continuing on her search, Meredy thanked the heavens that her magic was so wonderfully useful. It was a very small difference, but the closer she got to someone, the emotions she felt from them through a link or a semi-permanent one got incrementally stronger. She had figured out that this could work wonders for her guild if Jellal's telepathy was unavailable, and had quickly learned to feel the incremental differences. Now to use that to track down her friend…..Ah, figures. Seems she was hiding in a corner of the women's bath.

Entering, she scanned the water for any sign of a form floating in it. Nothing. Obviously, Juvia didn't want to be seen.

"Hey, Juvi-ia! Come out, I brought you chocolate and painful ways of killing assholes!"

A fully-clothed and perfectly dry head rose from the water. Meredy instantly felt the pain, even though Juvia's tears had been left in the bathwater. The water mage looked at her, her face brightening a little.

"You came to look for Juvia, Meredy?"

"Of course! We need a revenge scheme, after all! I'm sure I can get my hands on some molotovs, if you wanna go that route. Otherwise-"

Juvia held up a hand for her to stop. "Juvia isn't seeking revenge."

"Aw, c'mon! What that guy was doing was totally unfair, he would so have it coming."

The other girl shook her head. "It's okay, Meredy. Really. Besides, most of Juvia's points were lost through her own idiocy. Grey-sama was the one targeted most."

Meredy frowned, but let the matter drop. She, of all people, could tell Juvia was more angry at herself then anything else, something that Meredy had been expecting. "Yeah, they did go for Grey more. I wonder why? I mean, you're just as much a part of Fairy Tail as he is."

Juvia shrugged, slightly morosely, as she finally climbed out of the water to sit next to Meredy. Her friend wriggled the chocolate box by the side of her face, and Juvia smiled a bit, taking one. _Chocolate is always the best medicine,_ Meredy thought, quite pleased with her idea.

"Maybe it was because Juvia is a girl?"

"They don't seem much the type to discern, as long as it's a fairy…."

Juvia nodded, deep in thought. "Juvia has no idea, then. Maybe Grey-sama was just closer in the first place. From what Juvia saw, she and Grey-sama were tragically separated for most of Hidden." Meredy giggled a little at the "tragically" addition.

"Have they begun the battles?"

"Oh yeah!" Meredy exclaimed. "Lucy's fighting the slasher-smile chick from Raven Tail! Karma's gonna pay them a visit!"

Juvia nodded, although Meredy could sense hesitancy. "Juvia has faith in Lucy….but what if Raven Tail does something during the battle….."

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Turns out, Juvia could see the future.

She had told Meredy, upon the pink-haired witch leaving, that she wanted to stay here for a little longer. Meredy knew that meant that Juvia just wanted to be alone, but she left the chocolates.

When she had returned to the surface, she was just in time to see Orga destroy Warcry in one hit. Apparently, Blue Pegasus had defeated Mermaid Heel in battle. The rest of Fairy Tail seemed startled at Warcry's inevitable defeat, but Meredy wasn't that surprised. She had witnessed Sabertooth's rise to the top during the last three, explosive years. Sabertooth had destroyed its competition in X888 and only kept winning from there, and she had seen the Lightning Godslayer's power before.

Meredy had taken personal pride in the fact that the first year Orga competed, she was the only one who apparently recognized his magic as Godslaying, even Ultear hadn't connected it at first. She also noted that if Zancrow and Orga were any indication, Godslayers were jerks by nature.

But now, she was _seething_. Laxus had informed her, grimly, that Raven Tail had cheated in two separate instances and not only took Asuka as a hostage(Meredy was already going to kill them by that point, the little child was adorable and sweet, she actually had an intention of going and talking to the five-year-old after the day was over), but had also canceled out Lucy's magic, presumably in the same way Raven Tail had damaged Wendy.

Oh, if Meredy got her hands on any of them, Grimoire Heart-Meredy might make a reappearance. Even without the fact that they had hurt people she considered friends, it was the unfairness of it all. Honestly, _how did no one catch anything!_ You would think the Magic Council would be slightly competent for once and sense the fact that Lucy's magic had just died. If she had actually lost control, considering that she was casting an extremely powerful spell, it would have visibly backfired.

Meredy should know. Ultear, and especially Jellal liked teaching themselves incredibly strong new spells. And when they failed to learn them on the first try...well, let's just say that Meredy tended to back at least three miles away, and no, those mountains did _not_ naturally cave in.

And the craters dotting the Saranda Forest were not aliens, either. Sema had turned out a lot more powerful than Jellal anticipated.

Whatever the case, it was now time for the fourth and final battle of the day.

"We're up now, right? Since all the other teams have gone?"

"Well, almost all. Lamia's still left, so we'll be fighting them."

Lamia Scale? That was Lyon's guild. She looked over. Besides the other Ice-Make Mage, there was a dog-like man, someone with ridiculously huge eyebrows(wasn't his name Yuka or something? She had definitely seen him compete before.), a girl who looked closer to Wendy's age, maybe fourteen or fifteen, and the Wizard Saint, Jura Neekis.

"So one of us is going to be battling one of them." Meredy set out.

Gajeel nodded. _Knowing how they're working it this year, it's a really good thing I ended up coming instead of Jellal. Like I said before, either Mystogan's magic would fail and he'd be forced to use his own, or he'd do something stupid to impress Erza._ She smiled mischievously. _The second one is definitely more likely._

They were announcing the battle now, so Meredy turned her attention to the announcers.

"Fairy Tail Team B's Suzaline Milkovich! Versus!"

Wait, she was battling!? She was going to have to try really hard to win this one. At least she was pretty confident she could beat all the Lamia Scale people except for-

"Lamia Scale's Jura Neekis!"

-who she probably didn't have a prayer against.

Joy. Just joy.

**Next Chapter- Meredy vs. Yeah, The Freaking Wizard Saint**

**Meredy's going to have fun with this next one, eh? Obviously, Jura's going to defeat Meredy, I think we all know that. However, I want to write an awesome battle, and I've got all sorts of strategies for Meredy to use so it seems somewhat believable.**

**Thanks in advance to everyone who follows, favorites, and ESPECIALLY reviews the story. Reviews are inspiring! Leave them!**


	4. Meredy vs Jura

**I know, I know, this chapter is **_**super late. **_**I'm finishing up the school year, and I had so many major assignments to finish! But I'm almost done with those now, so regular updates should resume as of now. Plus, this might be the longest thing I've ever written dear lord.**

**Meredy gets to fight Jura now! Fun, eh?**

Nervously, Meredy stepped onto the arena floor. She wasn't sure if she was mentally (or physically) prepared for this. She had never seen him fight before, but he was the 5th Wizard Saint. Judging by that, she was pretty sure he was at least as strong as Jellal. And it would be a million years before Meredy could stand up to Jellal in a fight, no matter how modest he was about it. Her teammates obviously were cheering for her, but she and they both knew the odds of a "Suzaline" victory were very, very, low.

She could hear the announcers introducing her as she walked into the center.

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"This girl's a newcomer to Fairy Tail, in fact, I don't think I've ever seen her before! Have you, Yajima-san?"

"No, I haven't," the former Councilman replied, "but I look forward to seeing what kind of magic she'll use. Either way, she does seem a bit mysterious, with the cloak and all."

"I like that cloak! Excellent fashion sense! And as Miss Fiore, you can count on my opinion!"

Yajima would have rolled his eyes, but that was a very Jenny-ish thing to say.

While he sounded perfectly normal outside, Yajima was burning with suspicion on the inside. He had been a Council member long enough to be excellent at sensing magic power, and he could feel that this girl had a great deal inside of her. If she was any good at using it, definitely S-Class level. Yajima knew that, as much as he loved Fairy Tail, right now they were the weakest guild in Fiore. There was a very low chance that someone as obviously powerful as this girl was would join them out of the blue.

And no one in their guild had the last name "Milkovich", so it wouldn't be a sibling thing. He recognized that last name, however. It may have been just a coincidence, but…..resolving to keep a close eye on this "Suzaline"(quite the unusual first name, too), Yajima turned his attention back to the arena, where Jura was just entering.

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Another factor Meredy had realized she had working against her was that Jura had the crowd's unconditional support. She was a "member" of the perpetual losers Fairy Tail, not to mention that no one had ever seen her before.

Waiting at the midline of the arena, she observed her opponent as he entered. Definitely looked the part of a Wizard Saint. It was extremely intimidating, and it didn't help that she could sense magic power rolling off of him in droves.

The one advantage she had was that Jura had no idea what kind of magic she used, and she seriously doubted he'd recognize it once she began fighting, considering that Maguilty Sense was an obscure Lost Magic. However, she knew exactly what kind of magic he used along with several of the spells from it, due to Grimoire Heart, and even Crime Sorciere to a certain extent, keeping tabs on the more powerful wizards in Fiore.

"You know, I'd actually be fine with Fairy Tail winning," Jura said, jolting her out of her thoughts. She _had _to stop doing that. "But the old hag was insistent, so I'm afraid I'm not going to hold back much."

"the old hag" must refer to Lamia's master, Ooba Babasama. Meredy had seen her up with her guild in the stands on more than one occasion, and she was often seen spinning people. She grinned a little at the image of Ooba spinning Lyon or Jura.

Speaking of Jura, she could sense his hesitation. He obviously had qualms about going all out on the pink-haired teenager in front of him, even though she could tell he sensed her high level of magic power.

_Well, _she thought_, if I'm going to lose, might as well make it a fight to remember. Wish me luck, Ultear, Jellal!_

"I'm not going to hold back, either!"

"Battle, start!"

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"Of all the people she could have fought, it had to be the guy who's on the same level as you or I! What if she gets seriously injured? Why did I agree to her going?!"

Jellal sighed from the rock he was sitting on, watching the Arc of Time mage run around the clearing, throwing her orb at trees and ranting. At the officials, at Jellal, at herself, at Jura, and it sounded like Grey too….no one was spared her wrath. Ultear had some excellent insults in her vocabulary when she got mad enough. So much for her elegant and refined image.

"Because she very smartly pointed out that she had a much lower chance of getting arrested then either one of us, since her existence is a mystery and her magic obscure? And don't start on about how 'your magic isn't even a lost magic' and 'my magic isn't recognizable', the Council knows _exactly_ how we fight."

Ultear scowled at him, apparently attempting to shut him up with a death glare. It didn't work. It never did. Meredy was probably the only thing that kept them from killing each other, quite honestly. Or not. Much as they would never say it, they were like Natsu and Grey- they fought on a _very _regular basis, but were somehow best friends anyway.

Ultear, calming down a bit, sighed. "I guess you have a point…" Her expression suddenly turned furious again. "But that does NOT make it okay!"

"Listen, we both know that for all her...faults, Meredy is no weak wizard." Sensing Ultear's protests, he held up a hand. "Besides, if I know anything of Jura, he's quite the honorable mage. There's a very low chance of him seriously injuring Meredy enough for her to be in danger. "

She glared into her orb again, pacified for the moment. "Fine. I won't do anything. Yet."

Jellal sighed again. That was the best he was going to get for the moment.

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The battle had been going on for five minutes, and for that five minutes Meredy thought she was doing pretty well. She hadn't managed to get a hit in yet, she was saving her magic and merely observing Jura's capabilities up close while dodging his attacks as best as she could. If the crowd's surprise that she hadn't been defeated yet was any indication, 'as best she could' was very good, indeed.

Kicking off the wall to fly over yet another wall of rock, she landed only about two feet from the Wizard Saint, jumping to her feet again and instantly being forced to move to dodge the spikes shooting up from the ground. _Jeez, this guy is relentless!_

_Let's change things up a little. _

Her Sensory Links were her ace in the hole and when not in a life-or-death situation, something she'd rather save for later. However, she still had her other attacks- including the Earth Magic Jellal had taught her. Meredy had insisted that he show her how to use some of the other magic he possessed, since Maguilty Sense didn't have that many attacking spells, and her answer had been Water and Earth Magic. Magics that would be very effective against Jura, indeed.

If she used them right. When Jura caught on, she had no doubt he'd immediately increase his focus and negate anything she tried. Therefore-

"Iron Rock Wall!"

Carefully, Meredy jumped backwards to avoid it, and at the precise moment she made a jet of high-pressure water erupt from the ground, flung her hands out, managing to stop the rapidly-approaching wall in its tracks. Jura easily blocked the water, but her test had worked. As long as she kept him unaware of her secondary magic, it would be easy enough to at least stop his attacks long enough to give her time for her own.

Landing on the other side of the arena, she eyed Jura, watching for a move. As soon as he moved his hand, she shot up into the air on another jet of water, managing to land directly on one of the flat rocks criss-crossing the air, chasing her. Dashing around on them, Meredy somersaulted through a quickly closing hole and landed right behind Jura. He noticed, and the walls began crashing down around her. Meredy hadn't spent her entire life training in agility for nothing, however, and she darted through the falling platforms. Her what could be called a bubblebeam slipped through Jura's defenses and clipped him on the arm. It didn't do much damage, but you could hear the crowd and Jura himself's surprise that she had made the first hit.

Of course, she had left herself open with that attack, and only managed to avoid being completely crushed by the still-crashing rock through her limited control over impact still sent her flying several feet back, only stopping herself right before she hit the arena wall. _I need to stop doing that…_

Meredy's eyes flickered around the arena, noting the dimensions and more importantly, where the fallen platforms were located. Dodging Jura's next attempt at taking her down, she weaved in and out of the rocky surfaces, preparing another bubblebeamish attack in her hands. Suddenly jumping out from one, the stream of high-speed water bubbles shot at her opponent. But Jura was ready this time.

_Crash! _Meredy went skidding backwards, flying into the wall. It was obviously expected that she would be going down, but she immediately jumped up, only to be faced with another set of walls flying at her. With no other choice, the Maguilty Sense mage flung out a hand, shattering the hastily created rocks with a burst of magical power. "Well, there goes Earth Magic…." she muttered.

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Jura raised an eyebrow from across the arena. Fairy Tail and apparent hidden magical power or not, he hadn't expected her to remain looking generally unhurt after his last attack. And she knew both Earth and Water magic, too, and from the level of control she had over both it was obvious to any experienced mage neither was her main magic. The fact that she still hadn't used it was troubling. It spoke of some strategy she had in mind, as usually most opponents he faced instantly took out their best spells in an attempt to weaken him before trying anything major.

She was obviously an experienced mage, and if the magic power he could sense emanating from her was any indication, she was on Erza's level or maybe even higher. Erza Scarlet was not someone who he believed anyone would enjoy facing in battle, and while he was sure in his ability to beat her, he knew that fight wouldn't be easy. He certainly wasn't being serious in this battle, but the unnerving thing was that Suzaline wasn't either.

He had now learned that half the reason she had dodged all his attacks from earlier was that she was forcing them to miss her with her own Earth Magic (and the fact that he hadn't sensed this before was also a cause for alarm). However, he seriously doubted this would hinder her much, as his subsequent attacks weren't doing much anyway. Dissolving the rock platforms she was using to hide, Jura observed the way the girl instantly crossed her arms over her chest, as if she expected that action to come with a shot at her heart or lungs.

If her behavior was any indication, Suzaline Milkovich fought a lot of life or death battles. He had to wonder how that came about, and he also had to wonder about the way her eyes kept flickering up towards Lyon. He had never mentioned knowing anyone named Suzaline, then again, it could be that they just didn't ask.

Tightening his focus, Jura extended a hand towards the girl, intent on quickly finishing this battle. Oba had insisted on his participation, and while Jura disliked sounding boastful, he had doubted that there would be anyone worthy fighting in this tournament. "Rock Avalanche!"

As he watched Suzaline grin and wave a hand, causing water jets erupting from the ground to destroy his rocks along, he decided that maybe that assumption had been a presumptuous one.

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They had been in a stalemate for a while now. Well, only really a couple minutes, but it felt like a while. Jura attacked and Meredy dodged, occasionally flinging a water beam of some sort. You could _feel _the people holding their breath, waiting for something, _anything,_ to change.

In one second, it did.

Jura attacked, except this time it was different from the other ones. As soon as he yelled, "Supreme Rock Crush!", she found herself stuck inside of a tomb of boulders, one her water magic was unable to break out of. She knew what happened next- Jura would clap his hands together and the rocks would implode on her. If she got hurt like that, there was a good chance it wouldn't take him long to finish her off. So, as soon as the boulders closed around her, she closed her eyes and searched into Jura's emotions. Usually she would use just the extreme desire to win, but Jura, rather unsurprisingly, was missing it. So instead-

"Sensory Link."

-she simply fed off his certainty that this attack would take her out.

Just in time, too, as she immediately let out a shriek as the rocks exploded around her, knocking her into the arena wall. It didn't finish her, far from it, she had faced that sort of pain before and it was nothing, but it took her a good few seconds to get up. So it was a good thing that Jura had let out an involuntary expression of pain, the same pain she had felt, and was staring at the unfamiliar pink, glowing bracelet on his wrist.

Looking over, he had obviously realized that her right wrist also possessed a heart bracelet, and that that was probably what had caused him to feel her pain. For the second time that day, Jura of the Ten Wizard Saints raised an eyebrow. Meredy allowed herself a small smirk. He was going to have a fun time countering her favorite strategy.

It was also obvious that the crowd was incredibly confused, especially to Meredy, who could literally feel their curiousness at how that pink apparition had forced Jura to take the same damage Meredy did. She could hear Chapati yelling in the background, but it was of no concern to the pink-haired teenager. Her attention was solely focused on the Earth Mage, who was also watching her.

"So this is your magic? I've never seen it before."

"Heh. You're going to see a lot more of it in the next," she looked at the clock, "fifteen minutes!"

Jura gave her a slight smile. "If you last that long, Miss Suzaline. Rock Avalanche!"

Meredy flicked a hand, and a multitude of golden rays intercepted the rocks, smashing them all into pieces. "Maguilty Ray!"

Kicking off the wall she was next to again, Meredy charged at Jura, turning at the last second to avoid another wall of rock he sent flying at her. Skidding to a stop behind him, she already had a hand raised in the air. Blue, glowing swords appeared around her head as she shouted, "Maguilty Sodom!" Jura established another series of walls, but her blades proceeded to destroy several of them before finally being stopped, demonstrating their power. The audience was on the edge of their seats, and you could hear Fairy Tail's cheering/screaming and Lamia Scale's (and the rest of the guilds') surprise that Jura Neekis was being contested in a fight, instead of simply crushing his opponent.

She jumped up into the air, using his second attempt at hitting her with flying platforms, and dove down at him with her blades surrounding her. Releasing the link at the last second, she sent her blades shooting downwards along with herself. She could see that at least one had hit Jura before he countered with a fist of rocky iron, sending her painfully flying high into the air and knocking the breath out of her. _I'm going to feel that tomorrow….Ultear's not gonna be happy….._

She came crashing down to the arena floor, pretty sure she had left a crater. _Oh, come on….I have to be able to get up!_

But she couldn't seem to force herself. Jura raised a hand, ready to deliver a final blow. _I guess it's time to try Plan B- let's hope it works._

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Jellal was sighing again, because Ultear was freaking. And I mean full-on freaking. She had literally disintegrated the forest around them involuntarily.

He wasn't sure why, either. Meredy wasn't doing badly. Honestly, what did Ultear expect, her to be winning? Jura was an incredibly powerful wizard, one who Jellal would consider a major contender in a fight with himself. And Jellal generally defeated everyone without prejudice. It was a miracle Meredy had managed to last that long. Ultear, however, didn't care.

Currently, Meredy was on the arena floor, having just crashed down from that attack Jura had hit her with. Jellal had winced for her- it looked brutal, and she hadn't had the time to put the link back and force Jura to take his own hit as well. He glanced over at his black-haired guildmate, who was crushing, reforming, and crushing again her time ball.

The woman scowled at him. "What!?"

"Ultear, look around."

"So!?"

"You are killing the forest. Please reform it."

"The forest deserves to die," she muttered angrily, but still waved a hand and regrew the trees she had turned back to infancy. "Is Meredy still on the ground?"

"Ultear, she took a relatively hard hit. That's going to be hard to recover from, and she's got a lot of stuff on her mind. I wouldn't be surprised if it ended right there."

"No! She's still got that one thing I showed her! Why isn't she using it?!"

"What thing?"

"You know. The thing!"

Jellal rolled his eyes at the woman. "Ultear, I have no idea what you're talking about. How am I supposed to know what this thing is?"

She looked exasperated for some reason. Ultear was very arguable when annoyed, and she spent a lot of time annoyed. Or irritated. Or furious in general.

"Just….just watch the screen!" she yelled, stuffing the orb in his face and making another thirty trees disappear. _Meredy, I really hope these seven days go by quickly...or your "mother" may just drive me to actual insanity._

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Meredy, still flat on the ground, closed her eyes in concentration. Letting her magic power swell up, whatever remained of it, she created an invisible, extremely weak emotional link to every person in the stadium.

The emotions of the various guilds, especially Fairy Tail, were the most noticeable. She was pretty sure she could make out their individual emotional signatures. _So Juvia rejoined us…._

Ultear had taught her this trick, a little while ago. Well, it wasn't really a trick, more like a last resort, considering it came with the risk of backfiring and expelling all the magical power she planned on accumulating. The other woman had found it in one of the books she and Meredy had salvaged on Meredy's quite unknown magic from the magic library. It had been difficult to practice, considering it required a large number of people and she was a criminal. But it wasn't like she had any other options…

Focusing her mind on the links, she slowly pinpointed the emotions she shared with everyone in the crowd- excitement, anticipation, a sense of worry. As she embraced these feelings, the links began to grow stronger, sending magical power rapidly flowing through them directly towards the arm where Meredy held the master link.

Now came the difficult part. If she misjudged the amount of power, she would make the link's connection with her too strong or too weak, and lose control of her newfound magical energy. This had happened before- she had blown up an entire city block, and it was only thanks to Ultear's Arc of Time that no one caught them. Taking a deep breath, she allowed the flow of power in.

It overwhelmed her at first, but she soon breathed a sigh of relief. She could feel her magic container filling up as the crowd, obviously feeling like their emotions were dulling, gave each other very curious looks. Jura also looked confused as she slowly pushed herself up, rising to her feet and shaking a little.

"Now I'm all better!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "Let's get this started again!"

The crowd exploded. There were ten minutes left, and she was still standing. Could this actually end in a draw? No way….

Jura slowly nodded. "It seems there's a lot more to you then I originally thought….very well, then." He raised two fingers, then noticed that she had already thrown on a Sensory Link.

Meredy grinned. "I might not be able to win, but I'll take a draw!"

From the stands, you could see Oba screaming in frustration at Makarov. "Where did you get this one, Makarov!? Jura, I'm going to SPIN YOU!"

Meredy took the initiative and flew at Jura from the side, releasing the Sensory Link just before she released the hundreds of blue glowing blades floating around her. None connected, but they forced Jura to raise several more rock walls before returning an attack of his own. She was hit, right in the leg, but had already reestablished the Link and Jura winced, feeling the hit as well.

She could tell the Earth Mage was thinking hard. Flying towards him again, the pink-haired girl flung a leg out, releasing her link just before she did so. It hit Jura in the side as intended, but he used the opportunity and the broken link to grab her leg and slam a platform of rock into her, throwing her into the arena wall. _Owwww, that hurt…._

It had also knocked some of the fragile magic power she had gotten from her earlier feeding out of her. That was the problem with that tactic, the magic power gained was easily lost. Nevertheless, she struggled to her feet, closing her eyes and raising her hands. "Maguilty Sodom Rays!" Not only did golden rays wrap around the blades of magic, water jets flew from Meredy's hands, propelling the blades through Jura's defenses and hitting him head-on.

He shouted as he skidded backwards. "Supreme King Rock Crush!" Meredy, recovering from the immense amount of power it took to cast her spell, was directly smashed with the attack. Summoning all her remaining strength, she leapt at the man, determinedly throwing fast punches and kicks all over the place.

_Punch! Kick! _The sounds of the battle raged as the crowd held their breath. The two were moving incredibly fast, and even the announcer's didn't say anything.

Unfortunately, as Meredy had guessed, no amount of Sensory Links was going to keep Jura at bay for long.

As she began to grow tired, Jura saw an opportunity.

"Iron Rock Fist!"

A boulder slammed Meredy into the arena wall. One, two, three, four, five, seconds- she didn't show any sign of getting up.

Mato ran out.

"And the battle goes to...Jura of Lamia Scale! Wow, what a fight! I don't think anyone expected this!"

The crowd exploded. And not only for Jura's imminent victory- also for the pink-haired Fairy Tail mage who had put up such an incredible fight. Who knew that someone from _that guild, _much less a first-time participant, would have, even for a second, Jura Neekis on the ropes?

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Yajima wasn't buying it. From his vantage point on the commentator's stand, he could see the girl and the entire fight. There was no way someone like this would have not participated in the Grand Magic Games for so many years if she had been in Fairy Tail this entire time. Only S-Class quests took more then a year at most, and she was certainly not registered as an S-Class mage.

As he mindlessly made comments with one half of his brain, he observed with the other. Watching Makarov closely, the man not only looked like he was talking to thin air (what was that about?) but also looked triumphant, like some unexpected experiment had worked. If the intention had been to turn the crowd's attitude about Fairy Tail somewhat, he had succeeded. The audience had obviously been impressed by this Suzaline's performance against Jura, and was muttering about how maybe Fairy Tail wasn't so weak after all.

He noted Sabertooth's expressions, smirking slightly- they looked half-dumbfounded, half-furious. Probably thinking about what would happen if the rest of the former strongest guild in Fiore were this powerful.

Turning his eyes back to the girl, however, he noticed something as she managed to pick herself up, crack her shoulders, and waving a cheery goodbye to the crowd and Jura, skipped off the arena floor, albeit with a slight limp. Jura's last few attacks had been slightly brutal. But as she skipped, with a near complete lack of magic power, it might have been just Yajima's old eyes (though Jura seemed to notice it too, if his eye's slight narrowing was any indication), but the black guildmark on her shoulder flickered.

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Meredy skipped off the field, returning to her teammates. "How did I do?"

"You were amazing!" Mirajane cheered, as Juvia ran over and hugged her. Laxus looked grudgingly impressed. "Someone standing up to Jura in battle isn't something you see every day. The old man must be flipping out in the stands…."

Gajeel nodded. "He's gonna give himself a heart attack. Anyway, that's the end of the first day of these stupid games."

Cana, who had come over even though she was a reserve member of the team, was also cheering. "We're going to have a party! Free booze!"

Mirajane sighed. "Well, we better get going- coming, Suzaline!"

Meredy smiled happily. This was actually sort of fun! "Yeah, I'll be right there!"

"Juvia wants to see Grey-sama!" Juvia exclaimed, as Fairy Tail Team B dashed off back towards the inn. Well, the girls dashed. Laxus and Gajeel rolled their eyes at each other and walked.

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At the inn, Fairy Tail did what they did best (besides property damage)- partying!

"Oi, who's up for another drinking contest?"

"Cana, if you challenge anyone else, you'll drink the whole guild to the ground!"

Cana was sitting on the bar, waving her twentieth bottle, and singing some strange victory song with a happy gleam in her eyes.

"Wow, you weren't kidding..she sure does drink _a lot._" Meredy said, wide-eyed as she watched the woman out-drink another three Fairy Tail members.

Juvia, who was sitting next to her, giggled. "Cana-san loves alcohol! A little too much…."

"You don't say." Meredy said sarcastically, as Cana pointed in their direction. "Juvia! Lina! Come drink with me!"

Juvia looked horrified, however, having just seen Lucy and Grey come down the stairs together. Meredy sweatdropped, watching as she obviously began another one of her fantasies. Turning back to Cana, she shouted, "Sorry, Cana, I don't really drink alcohol!"

Gajeel looked surprised. "Considering you act like you're eternally high, Pinky, I'm surprised."

She scowled at him, crossing her arms indignantly. "What's _that _supposed to mean, Gajeel?"

He responded with the usual smirk and a "Gihi." She, in turned, threatened to sense-link him to Juvia while she was fangirling over Grey. Gajeel quickly shut up, earning Meredy a laugh from most of the people around her.

That was when Makarov walked up, Levy next to him.

Meredy turned to look at him. "Hi Levy!" she said happily. "Gajeel's being annoying. And hi Makarov! I guess you're wondering why I'm here and not Mystogan."

While Levy glared at Gajeel, who just continued to smirk, Makarov nodded. "Not that I mind, you did quite well against Jura." She could have sworn she saw a ghostly smirk in the air next to him. Never mind that.

"But I am curious as to why you are here instead of your…..friend." Makarov continued.

Meredy shrugged. "We aren't even sure they know I exist, much less that I was a former member of Grimoire Heart. Remember, the Council has no idea who's in Crime Sorciere, all they know is that we're three very powerful mages. Considering that, of the three of us, I'm the least likely to be recognized, we decided that sending me was a better idea. Besides!" she added, her serious face brightening. "I get to spend time with Juvia!"

The Sixth Master nodded. "Well, that makes sense. And the guildmark?"

"Ultear and Jellal know all sorts of weird magic. Like Transformation Magic."

"Well, that explains it. I'm glad you decided to join our party! Keep having fun!" Makarov announced, walking off to probably go hit on Mira. He looked rather drunk, after all. Meredy giggled. Fairy Tail was so much fun!

The door opened suddenly and she started, watching as a shirtless man in purple pants walked into the guild hall, laughing. She frowned for a second, before he popped into her memory. _Ah, that's right! He's Bacchus Groh, Quatro Cerberus's strongest mage!_

She sweatdropped as she watched him challenge Cana to a drinking contest, despite warnings from everyone else at the bar. _And a drunkard….. _

She felt a tap on her shoulder as she watched the two mages down bottle after bottle, and turned to see Grey standing there. "Hi Grey! What is it?"

Grey shifted hesitantly. "How's Ultear?"

"She's fine! Although she's probably freaking out right now over my having to fight Jura….I feel sorry for Jellal."

Grey looked slightly terrified. "I'd be scared too. She can be _vicious_."

The pink-haired mage nodded vigorously. "I'm pretty sure I'm the only thing preventing them from killing each other. And UItear's constant teasing doesn't help."

"Teasing over what?" Meredy suddenly remembered that no one besides her, Ultear, and apparently Happy had any idea what had happened on that beach, and she did not want to think of Erza and Jellal's reactions if they found out she had told.

"Uh, well…...wait, did _Cana _just get defeated in a _drinking contest!?_" Luckily, Cana's very surprising defeat was a major and well-timed distraction, as the brown-haired woman was face-first on the floor, and Bacchus was running off with….her bra?!

"Oi, Gildarts is going to kill you for that!" Macao yelled, as he and Wakaba got up and lunged at the other mage, but were quickly knocked to the ground through what Meredy knew to be Bacchus's drunken hawk palm or whatever-it-was magic. She really couldn't be bothered to remember.

Bacchus, walking out the door zig-zaggedly, noticed Erza standing by the door, giving him a disapproving look. "Hey, Erza!"

The swordswoman looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "I'm curious as to why you aren't participating in this year's games, Bacchus."

He grinned. "I wanted to give the younger members a try! But they don't seem to be very effective, so I'm coming in as a reserve member tomorrow. We never did finish that match, did we? Doesn't matter, you'll always be super-" he gave her an extremely excited look.

She raised an eyebrow.

"Wild." the red-haired mage deadpanned.

Bacchus looked disappointed. "Aw, you're such a kill-joy. I hope to meet you on the battlefield, Erza!" he called, wobbling out of the doors.

"I don't like him." Lucy said flatly. Grey turned from where he had been talking to Meredy to look at Erza. "Who is that guy, anyway?"

"He's Quatro Cerberus's strongest mage- Bacchus, the Drunken Falcon. We've met several times on jobs and sparred- there's never been a real victor."

Grey stared at her incredulously. "_You _couldn't defeat him? Is he a monster or something?"

Natsu looked much more confident. "Eh, there's no way Erza'd lose to him now! I bet I could beat Erza too! And that guy!" he cheered. Erza disproved this point by smacking him into a wall with the flat part of her sword.

Natsu jumped up. "Oh, come on! You didn't even let me _ow!" _And there went the wall. You could hear Makarov's exasperation.

Meredy snickered. "You can't beat Erza, Natsu, you should know that by now. Almost no one beats Erza."

Natsu suddenly grinned devilishly, making Meredy take a few steps back. "I bet you could beat her up! Mirajane even said that even she and Erza combined couldn't beat Jura, and you held him off all on your own!"

Meredy gave both him and Erza terrified stares. "I don't want to fight Erza!"

Unfortunately for her, Erza seemed rather interested by the idea. "That's an intriguing idea. You and I may have to spar sometime, Meredy."

Meredy gave Juvia, who was watching the scene from next to the fainted Cana, a _help me_ stare. "I don't wanna die!"

"But if you beat Erza, then I can totally beat her!" Natsu shouted excitedly, chasing Meredy around the bar and nearly knocking over twenty people.

"I don't understand his brain." Grey said, rolling his eyes at the Dragonslayer's logic.

"I don't think anyone does." Lucy told him, smiling fondly at her partner. Happy and Meredy both spotted this.

"You liiikkkeee him!"

And now Lucy was embarrassed, Natsu was still clueless, Meredy was still being chased around the room, and Happy had joined Natsu, claiming, "She stole my shtick!"

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_MERCURIUS_

A knight in grey armor, addressed by the king sitting on the throne as "Arcadios", knelt before him.

"Do you have any requests for the battles for tomorrow?"

"Hmmm…." the king mused, his face shadowed. "I would like to see the Twin Dragons fight, they're always interesting….but no, save the best for last. Have Bacchus fight the one from Fairy Tail. What was their name again….I know it began with an 'e', the one who transforms…..I can't remember right now. Just set that one up."

Arcadios, dismissed, rose and bowed, before walking out of the room, muttering 'e' and 'transformation' under his breath.

He smirked slightly as he walked towards the doors leading out.

"And soon….it will be complete.

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Charle awoke with a start in the infirmary, breathing heavily. _What was that?_

The healer known as Porlyusica glanced over at her. "Charle? Something wrong?"

The white Exceed sat down on a small chair next to Wendy's bed, looking pensive. "Just something I saw….it looked somewhat like a prophecy…."

The woman walked over to sit in the chair across from her. "What did you see?" she asked.

"It was...it was something impossible…" Charle muttered, shaking her head. "I saw a white knight…..an ominous-looking gate, opening….and I saw….I saw Mercurius falling….." She glanced up at Porlyusica. "And Lucy was singing…"

The woman looked slightly stunned. "Mercurius...falling?"

Charle frowned for a second, before getting up and waving a hand dismissively. "It was probably just a dream, a coma-induced imagining….I mean...how would Mercurius fall?" She asked rhetorically.

She didn't expect an answer anyway. A dream? Charle's visions were never wrong.

And she knew it.

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**Next- Ch. 5: Chariots, Bets, and Fighting Oh My!**

**DUN DUN DUN! Or it would be, if we didn't all know what happens anyway. Eh, writing suspenseful things are fun anyway. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and don't forget to review! They inspire me! And I'm sort of winging this story, so constructive criticism and ideas are definitely welcome.**

**See you guys next time!**


	5. Races and Battles and Bets, Oh My!

**I know, I know, I haven't updated in months, I'm a horrible person. But between vacations and visiting relatives and unmotivational feelings and the simple fact that this chapter was really hard to write, it just took forever. It's not very good, tbh. As I couldn't really find anything for Meredy to do, it's really just a retelling of the second day from canon. I tried to make it as exciting as possible, but I'm not sure I did that great of a job, especially after last chapter. Anyway, the next chapters will be better and faster, I promise!**

Meredy sat cross-legged on the bed she had been assigned to in Team B's room, watching her teammates sleep. A bit creepy, she knew, but she couldn't help it. Years of night watches and ambushes under the cover of dark and escaping through the shadows of twilight had given her one of the weirdest sleep schedules possible, making her practically a vampire. _I should get red-colored contacts and some of those candy fangs and scare Jellal to death. _she thought amusedly. For such a powerful mage, Jellal could really be a scaredy-cat at times.

_Speaking of Jellal, I would have hated to be him during my fight with Jura today….._She winced on instinct. Ultear had probably been flipping out from wherever the two were watching from. She was just glad she hadn't been totally destroyed, or else her foster mother might have marched down there to kill someone, and Meredy seriously doubted Jellal could stop her. Ultear was an unstoppable tidal wave of pure terrifyingness when she was angry, as had been demonstrated by the fates of the multiple dark guilds who had attempted to kidnap Meredy (Ultear had literally grown a tree through one of them. It was a very bloody sight.)

"Of course I love you, Grey-sa-" The last part was cut off as Juvia rolled over onto her stomach, smothering the rest of the sentence. Meredy giggled, figuring her friend was on another dream date with her eternal crush. She was truly happy to spend time with Juvia again, after all, the blue-haired girl had been the first to make her feel anything other then a crushing sense of vengeance and coldness. _Probably because her sense of revenge was greater then mine, ironically enough. _Meredy thought wryly. She had resolved to pay Juvia back by getting her together with Gray. So far, efforts had been futile, but she still had several more days to try!

She also found it adorable how Pantherlily curled up next to Gajeel while the two slept. It was obvious that Gajeel was totally a sucker for his cat, and Meredy found that absolutely hilarious. Cana was sleeping in nothing but her underwear, having been dragged up from the bar by a giggling Mirajane and exasperated Laxus at one in the morning. It was obvious the brunette didn't care at all about who saw her wearing what, and Meredy had to respect that. Said Take-Over mage and Lightning Dragonslayer were relatively peaceful, not moving or making any sound, though every so often a slight electric charge from Laxus would cause the hair on her arms to stand up.

She wondered how Team A was doing, especially Wendy. The poor kid- Meredy's face convoluted into a scowl. Those Raven Tail bastards obviously really wanted a beating. If they kept this up, Meredy was going to find some way to convince Ultear that they were the cause of the strange magic power and sic the Arc of Time mage of them. She sighed, flopping back on her bed and causing Cana, whose bed was next to her's, to roll over and wave an arm in the air.

Knowing Fairy Tail, though, Raven Tail was definitely going to get their comeuppance, and probably be just one more obstacle in the former strongest guild in Fiore's path to reclaiming their former power.

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"So who'd we send out for this one?" Meredy asked, leaning on her elbows on the stone railing as she observed the rowdy crowds collected in the stands. It was rather nice that each mage team had its own balcony, though it was annoying that they weren't supposed to leave their respective areas unless they were going out for a competition or battle. She supposed this was to cut down on cheating, but how was she supposed to go and get candy? Sure, she had just come back from buying twenty separate packages (Laxus had given her a concerned look), but what if she ran out? That would truly be a tragedy.

"Gajeel-kun's competing," Juvia cheerfully informed her, before her expression changed to a more unamused one. "But I didn't know he got motionsick…."

Meredy glanced at the lacrima screens and grimaced. Unsurprisingly, Natsu (competing for Team A) looked like he was ready to fall over and die. However, to the apparent surprise of most of the arena, Gajeel and Sting Eucliffe of Sabertooth were both also staggering along, barely managing to keep on their feet. Turning an eye over to the Sabertooth balcony, it was obvious that they were also fairly unamused with this turn of events. _Well, there isn't anything we can do about it now..._

Her attention flipping back to the lacrima screen, it seemed that those three were the only motionsick ones, as the others were in a heated race for the finish line. Currently the Raven Tail guy was in the lead (Meredy scowled at that news), but the other four competitors weren't far behind at all. The announcers were excitedly updating the audience on the changing ranks from their booth high above the rest of the arena. Apparently they had brought in one of the reporters from Sorcerer Weekly as a guest announcer- Jason or something, Lucy had glared at him for some reason as she spotted him when coming into the arena. Meredy snickered slightly at the fact that Chapati had a totally different hairstyle from the day before. He had been the main announcer for years now, and she had never seen him wear the same hairstyle twice. She shuddered, remembering the time he wore a bright pink afro. The pinkette never wanted to see her hair color used in such a horrible way ever again.

The competitors seemed to have begun using magic (except for the motionsick Dragonslayers in the back), and the Lamia Scale representative, Yuka if she had heard Chapati correctly, had just used that wave magic of his to shoot ahead of the Mermaid Heel girl and Ichiya (no one _ever _forgot who Ichiya was, which was unfortunate in certain cases). Unfortunately for him, Risley had easily dodged it using her gravity magic and shot ahead of him, and Ichiya had, well...stuck two vials of parfum (she always said parfum instead of perfume and it was all his fault) in his nose and totally inhibited the effects of the wave while running right past him, leaving Yuka fairly flustered. Meredy snickered. Never underestimate the tricks your opponents might have up their sleeve, she had learned that lesson well enough.

Bacchus had been hanging back until now, but of course the second the others started using their magic he totally wrecked an entire chariot, flinging the three into the air and dashing in front of them, cackling. Meredy was pretty sure that he was still under the effects of the alcohol, then again, all of Quatro Cerberus constantly acted like they were drunk. Sure enough, a few seconds later he had shot ahead of Kurohebi (the Raven Tail representative) and crossed the goal line, eliciting an incredibly loud shriek of "_Wild Four!" _from the Quatro Cerberus section. Minutes later, as Jason yelled about how cool Risley's gravity-altered body was, Raven Tail earned second place and consequently eight points (Fairy Tail booed).

A few seconds apart from each other, Mermaid Heel earned third, Lamia Scale was awarded fourth, and Blue Pegasus was granted three points as they came in fifth.

All that was left was the two Fairy Tail mages and the Sabertooth mage, battling it out for the last three places. Well, if you could even call it a battle, considering that when Gajeel attempted to knock Sting over for calling him a newbie, all he manage to do was squish Natsu and groan. Pantherlily looked physically pained, which Meredy actually found quite funny. The rest of the crowd apparently found the last three competitor's distress hilarious, as they were all laughing their heads off.

Mirajane suddenly looked thoughtful. "It seems Dragonslayers get sick on vehicles...hey, Laxus, aren't you a Dragonslayer?"

He just glared at the lacrima screen. "Don't tell anyone." Juvia let out a sigh. "Isn't it fairly obvious at this point?" Meredy giggled. _Hey, didn't the Oracion Seis have a Dragonslayer? Cobra or something? I wonder if he got motionsick..._she smiled in spite of herself. That would have probably been hilarious.

It seemed as though the Sabertooth mage wasn't bothering to push himself, while the two Fairy Tail mages were doing their best to move forward, despite being obviously unable to move very well. You could hear their conversation well enough on the lacrima.

"Don't cry about that one point later, kid!" she heard Gajeel say, as Sting seemed to decide to just give the two the battle. Meredy smirked as Sting began speaking again, dropping that line in her memory to remember for when Sabertooth would almost certainly regret not taking that point while they could. Her interest was piqued by what he was saying now, as it was a question she realized she had been wondering herself.

"Why are you even participating in this tournament? I wouldn't have believe you were the same Fairy Tail from back in the day. Are you worried about your public image? The Fairy Tail that I know did everything at their own pace. They didn't give a damn what anyone thought of them."

The rest of Fairy Tail, especially the ones sitting in the stands, looked nervous waiting for Natsu and Gajeel's response. Meredy didn't blame them- what was a proper response to that? Then again, she should have realized exactly what Natsu would say. After all, she had witnessed first-hand the devotion Fairy Tail held to their guildmates.

"For...our friends..." the crowd was holding their breath now, "who waited for seven years...all that time...they were waiting for us. No matter how painful, no matter how sad...they held on. They held on...they protected the guild...for their friends...and now we're gonna show everyone...the proof that Fairy Tail's been holding on all this time!" Natsu shouted, and Meredy could feel the tidal wave of emotion hitting her from the balcony where the members of Fairy Tail who weren't participating in the games stood, crying unabashedly. She didn't blame them- she herself was tearing up, though they may have partially been the fault of said emotional tidal wave. Sting looked stunned as the two continued pressing on, obviously not expecting a response like that.

Natsu collapsed across the finish line, earning two points for Fairy Tail Team A (the first points they had received) and Gajeel soon followed, getting Team B another point to add to the ones Mirajane and Juvia had earned.

She glanced around the crowd, listening to the whispers and murmurings coming from the crowd, some of whom were even crying, "They're tenacious, I'll give 'em that!" "Who are these guys?!" "Fairy Tail, eh? I kind of like that..." "I'm even a little touched!" "First the pink-haired girl yesterday and now these two..I'll cheer them on!" Applause began resonating around the arena as they announced that Sting had received zero points for dropping out. Sabertooth looked distinctly disgruntled. She figured he was going to get some smack for that. Good thing she didn't care.

_Now that that's over..._taking a look at the leaderboard, she saw, and the announcers confirmed it (with _another_ "COOL!" from Jason, was that guy annoying, no wonder Lucy had been glaring) that Raven Tail currently held first place. And Sabertooth was in second. The Sabertooth members looked even more annoyed now, and the two Exceeds in the front row looked nervous. Meredy decided she didn't like the red one, but the frog one was adorable.

Watching as Lucy dragged Natsu off to the infirmary and Gajeel tiredly made his way back up to their stands (where Juvia instantly tackled him with a hug and sang "Gajeel-kun, Juvia was absolutely touched!" "Salamander said all that, not me! Get off!"), they announced the next battle

"Toby Horhorta of Lamia Scale! Versus! Kurohebi of Raven Tail!"

Gajeel quit fending off Juvia's hugs to glance out on the arena floor. "Raven, huh?"

"I hope we see a fair fight." Yajima noted from the commentator's box as Jason continued to yell how cool it was that Toby looked like a dog (and seemed to have the intelligence of one, too, Meredy noted wryly). Her gaze drifted over to where Fairy Tail A stood, seeing that Lucy seemed to have come back from the infirmary, which meant Natsu must be fine. The Crime Sorciere mage figured she wouldn't be here if he wasn't. The blonde's face had suddenly turned to one of sadness as she glanced at the Raven Tail balcony, which was blocked from Meredy's view. _Wonder what that's about..._

She didn't have any more time to wonder as the soldier holding the giant gavel struck the gong to signal the beginning of the match, and Toby instantly extended his claws, yelling out his battle cry.

"What kind of attack name is 'Super Paralysis Claw Mega Mega Jellyfish?'" Meredy questioned her teammates in general in amusement, which caused Mirajane to giggle and Gajeel to crack a smile.

"Well, if it beats up the Raven, Juvia doesn't care." Juvia answered, a note of resentment hinting its way into her voice. Meredy could tell even without her power to sense emotions that Juvia still held a slight grudge for both her and her beloved Gray-sama's humiliation at the hands of Raven Tail's mage during yesterday's game, and she doubted the bluenette would mind if this Kurohebi guy was utterly destroyed out there. Unfortunately, so far he had been dodging all of Toby's clawed swipes before vanishing into sand, disappearing entirely.

As Toby had a moment of panic, Kurohebi reappeared, hissing "Sand Rebellion!" and sending his opponent flying into the air, though he wasn't nearly defeated yet.

She could hear various members of Fairy Tail shrieking for the Lamia Scale mage to beat up Ivan's guild as the two battling mages jumped back, acknowledging each other's strength. Meredy was fairly unsurprised to learn that Kurohebi wasn't the guy's real name (who would name their kid something that means "Black Snake"?), but she found it somewhat funny that the dog-like man pretty much flipped his shit when his enemy revealed that.

"You! If I win, you're telling me your real name!" Toby shouted as he furiously slashed with his green claws, the other mage dodging every strike.

"And what do I get if I win?"

"I'll tell you my big secret!" came the enthusiastic shout, and Kurohebi's black eyes widened with a hint of maliciousness. "That sounds interesting." Meredy tensed, feeling a slight malevolence come off the field. She quickly blinked over at the Raven Tail members, but none of them were doing anything unusual besides grinning those awful grins of theirs.

Apparently bets were "COOL!" too. Meredy was going to _murder_ that Jason guy.

It didn't take long after the bet was made for the keening dog-like Lamia mage to be knocked to the ground and knocked out, leaving the Raven Tail wizard on his feet and the winner, earning them another 10 pts. Lamia Scale looked exasperated, Raven Tail was smugly smirking, and Fairy Tail was scowling in a state of great annoyance as the crowd cheered the victory.

"I'm actually somewhat impressed." Mirajane duly noted. "Not only did he win after participating in the Chariot race earlier, but he did it without much effort."

Her team agreed, and Team A seemed to be having the same discussion.

"They're relatively strong even without the dirty tricks. That's annoying." Gajeel added, shooting a glare at the aforementioned guild.

Meanwhile, on the arena floor, Toby was confessing his secret. As Team B had thought beforehand, it really wasn't very interesting.

"So his big secret is that his sock has been missing for the past three months?" Laxus asked, extremely unimpressed.

"It's around his neck." Meredy deadpanned, just as Kurohebi pointed out this same thing. "And now he's crying. These Grand Magic Games are extremely unusual, no?"

"Yajima-san, what do you think?"

"No comment."

"Cool! COOL!"_ (goddamit, Jason)_

But the confused, slightly touched but also totally and completely confused air changed when the Raven Tail mage cut the "missing" sock into pieces.

The entire arena gasped, because okay that was a little ridiculous, but-

"Oh my..." Mirajane said concernedly, as Toby started crying hysterically again and Kurohebi walked off, claiming that it was his nature to want to destroy something precious.

"That's just mean." Meredy agreed angrily, crossing her arms. The Toby guy was ridiculous, but that was no excuse. "Honestly, are they _trying_ to make people dislike them?"

"It's not like they're advocating peace and happiness, with the whole destroy-Fairy-Tail mantra..." Gajeel shrugged, though even he sounded a bit put-off by the pure maliciousness of that act.

The arena was silent except for the whispers floating about as the announcers struggled to regain their composure.

"Um..well, let's proceed to the second match!" Chapati hastily spoke through his microphone, seemingly looking at a piece of paper which she supposed contained the match lists.

"From Quatro Cerberus, Bacchus Groh!" The man wearing purple armorish clothing and a bun who had also participated in the Chariot race earlier triumphantly swaggered out onto the arena floor, waving a bottle of alcohol in the air as the crowd cheered. Meredy instantly recognized him as Quatro Cerberus's strongest mage, and the man who had crashed Fairy Tail's party the night before and stolen Cana's bra, something that immediately pointed out by Cana herself after it was announced that he'd be fighting someone from Fairy Tail's Team A.

"_Someone avenge me!_ I don't care who, but someone beat him up in revenge!" the brunette shrieked, threatening to fall over the stone balcony as Gajeel and Meredy held her back as she shrieked.

"Elfman Strauss!"

It was instantly obvious that Fairy Tail Team A and B were not encouraged by this pronouncement. "Wait a minute, that's the guy who's on _Erza's_ level, and Elfman's fighting him!?" Gajeel said, not looking happy about Fairy Tail's chances on this one.

"Elfman!?" Mirajane exclaimed, looking somewhat scared. "Oh dear..."

Meredy could see Erza giving Elfman encouragement as he headed towards the arena floor, looking somewhat scared himself, but determined.

All eyes were on the combatants, Bacchus casually lying on the ground, holding a bottle of alcohol. He definitely sounded drunk, though Meredy doubted he was yet. "Hey, how about you and me make a bet, like those last guys did?" A smirk grew on his face. "Both of your sisters are lovely."

Elfman's eyes narrowed. "What're you trying to say?"

The man grinned, though it was definitely more creepy then happy. "If I win, they're mine, both of them." His eye widened. "At the same time."

Both women's eyes were wide and shaking, though whether it was from anger or disgust Meredy wasn't sure. Probably both, as that's certainly what Meredy was thinking and that's certainly what was exhibited on every Fairy Tail member's face, nonetheless Elfman's.

"Bastard..." Cana spat out through gritted teeth.

Bacchus still looked ridiculously nonchalant as he considered. "And if you win, let's see..."

Before he could finish, Elfman stepped forward, his hands balling into fists. "There are some things a man can't let pass...hound dog. I'll tear you apart!" he growled, body surging with magic power.

"Then we have a deal?" Bacchus said slyly, rising to his feet. "My soul is quivering."

As they flew at each other, Meredy frowned slightly at the explosion she spotted from above the arena, on the stone walls surrounding it. _What was that..._when she turned her attention back to the battle, however, the outcome looked less then favorable.

Elfman was already on one knee, clearly outmatched, especially considering that Bacchus was up without a single scratch on him. It was clearly obvious who was more powerful in this situation, and both the crowd and the announcer were acknowledging this.

Bacchus grinned that sly grin of his that made Meredy quite partial to sensory-linking this guy to one of the dark guild members Ultear interrogated. "Beautiful women, all to myself...hehe..." Elfman scowled.

"Take-Over: Weretiger!" he shouted, instantly changing into some type of sabertooth tiger and running at Bacchus again. Though he speed was increased, the other mage easily kicked and punched him to the ground again, doubling back with that same stance he was in before.

Gajeel glanced at Meredy, who was intently watching the battle. "Oi, Pinky. You've watched this guy fight before, right? What magic is he using?"

"It's Palm Magic." the pinkette answered, her eyes flicking to him for a second before turning back to view the fight. "Magic gathers in his palm and is released through his punches and hits, which is why they're so overwhelmingly powerful. Combined with his martial art style and his mastery at is, it's extremely difficult to fight."

"Elfman's more of a hands-on fighter, so that's not good for us." Cana said grimly, taking another sip of her drink.

"That's not even the worst of it." Meredy said, scowling. "If things get bad, he drinks from that flask." she said, indicating the one Bacchus had brought into the arena with him. "It allows him to use his magic, but in a style he invented to use while drunk. It makes him ridiculously unpredictable and ten times harder to fight."

The other members of her team looked alarmed. "So he's not even using his full strength yet..." Gajeel said, looking back at their fight. It wasn't going much better then before, with Elfman having just been smashed into a wall.

The announcers seemed to know what Meredy was saying, and were informing the audience of it. Jason apparently thought Bacchus's magic was COOL! Meredy wanted to punch him. She restrained the urge in favor of watching the match.

"So you're up, eh?" Bacchus was saying, as Elfman once again rose to his feet. "I guess all that repetition of Man wasn't for nothing."

"I didn't decide yet, hound dog." Elfman said. "The bet...what happens if I win..."

Bacchus laughed, looking totally unconcerned. "Since there's no chance of that happening, go ahead, whatever you want."

Elfman smirked slightly as he lifted his head up to stare at Bacchus. "If I win, for the remainder of the Games, the name of your guild will be Quatro Puppy."

There was dead silence for a second as Quatro Cerberus looked horrified and Bacchus looked like he couldn't decide whether to laugh or be like the rest of his guild and blanche.

"Puppy? Like, a baby dog? "Four Puppies?" Juvia said, somewhat confused and looking at Meredy for an explanation. The pinkette was busy laughing her head off.

"I like that! Make 'em do it, Elfman!" Cana cheered, cackling with Meredy. Her expression suddenly turned to one of dread, however, as Bacchus picked up his flask of alcohol. "Oh, no..."

"Oh, my!" Chapati yelled from the announcer's box. "Bacchus has hit the bottle at last!"

"Now he's serious!" Juvia exclaimed, looking worried, as Bacchus flew at Elfman, movements too fast to see.

Meredy's eyes widened as Bacchus jumped away. _Seven blows in one instant! That's impressive...but Elfman must have done something, because he's not down yet..._

Indeed, just as she thought that, Bacchus looked down to see that the bottom half of his violet armor had crumbled and that his hands were brutally scratched. "What is this?!"

"Beast Soul: Lizardman!" Elfman had become, quite literally, a lizardman- one with extremely hard and sharp scales.

"Come!" Elfman yelled, gesturing to the Quatro Cerberus mage. "Either your hands or my body- which one will break first?"

"That's some strategy..." Mirajane muttered, shaking her head.

"It's crazy," Juvia said firmly, Meredy nodding in agreement. "Lizardman might be the perfect defense against a bare-handed fighter, but I'm not sure it'll hold against Bacchus's unrelenting attacks. Combined with the fact that Elfman's already taken a lot of damage and Bacchus has taken barely any..."

It was, quite literally, insane. Anyone would think it was a one-sided fight from the way Bacchus landed blow after blow on Elfman; but it wasn't one-sided, because getting hit multiple times was Elfman's strategy, offense, and defense. Baccus rained blow after unmerciful blow on the Take-Over's spiky scales over and over, as the crowd, Quatro Cerberus, and Fairy Tail held their breath. Pieces of armor and green and black scales flew everywhere as the clash of wills continued on and on and on, drawing everyone's undivided attention.

Finally, Elfman's Take-Over came undone and Bacchus ran out of magic, both collapsing, panting and heaving, to the floor.

Bacchus managed to breath out, "Your name is Elfman, right?" He began to cackle maniacally, standing up, which would give him the victory, as Lisanna and Evergreen (plus several other Fairy Tail members) teared up and Mirajane's eyes looked dark.

"You know, you're...a real...man." Bacchus collapsed to the ground and didn't get back up.

The arena burst into cheers as the announcers declared Elfman's victory like they couldn't believe it was happening. Evergreen was _strangling_ poor Freed, and Mirajane had tears of joy pricking in the corner of her eyes.

Elfman raised a fist in the air and let out a roar of victory over his defeated opponent, and the rest of the arena shrieked with him.

"Elfman declared victory over a formidable opponent!" Chapati shouted through his microphone. "Does this battle roar speak of Fairy Tail's comeback!?

From above the arena, Wendy, Natsu, and Porlyusica went over the details of Wendy's apparently mistaken kidnapping. "But they- Raven Tail- were looking for another girl who was in the infirmary, not is in the infirmary!" Natsu was exclaiming, as Charle's eyes widened. "You mean Lucy!"

In Mercurius, Captain Arcadios was scolding a subordinate. "Fool! Your men had the wrong target! Well, no matter. We'll just have to move to Plan B. Where are the original perpetrators?"

"In prison, sir." the soldier said, his hand still raised in salute.

"Their cover isn't blown?"

"No, sir. They believe their client is Raven Tail, not us."

"Good." Arcadios said, sounding satisfied. "We can keep using the tension between Fairy Tail and Raven Tail like this. And while they're feuding-" and here his eyes gleamed, "we'll grab ourselves a Celestial Spirit Wizard, for the Eclipse Project!"

**Next Chapter: Things Are Going Well! (It Won't Last Long)**

**I could have written more, but I really wanted to just publish the chapter. It really isn't that great, but I've finished it, so that's something! I hate retelling canon ugh, it's so annoying-_- Anyway, probably by the next chapter, I'm gonna start changing things so a.) Meredy can fight people and b.) so that I'm not just retelling canon. See you guys next chapter!**


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